2018-19​ Resident Playwrights

Alise MackeyGrade 11, Strath Haven High School

Residency play: HOME​Marlena Smith attends her daughter's 18th birthday party after 17 years of being separated from her. Marlena tries to piece together all of the years she missed with her daughter, while also reliving the mistakes she made in the past. Is there any chance that she and her daughter can achieve reconciliation?​

Andrew MarcusGrade 8, Cedarbrook Middle School

​Residency play: THE MURDER OF WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

When William Shakespeare is plopped into the harsh environment of modern day New York City, he must find a way to fit in. Eventually, he finds out that his life is being threatened by not being in Stratford upon Avon in the 1600’s, and he must seek a way home. Filled with plot twists galore, and lots of mediocre jokes, The Murder of William Shakespeare is sure to please any and all of your weird, old, grumpy uncles.

Angelina DeMonteGrade 9, Harriton High School

​Residency play: CANDLES

The members of the Edgewater High school newspaper club, Rose, Jace, Augustus and Amara are normal high school students, irresponsible, stressed, and feel like they’re wandering through life in no particular direction. But then when the unthinkable happens and their school is attacked by an armed student, their lives are changed forever. After this tragedy, as they try to navigate what comes next, they finally find the passion and drive to fight for something, using what they know best, writing, reporting, and music.

Upon realizing that his days on Earth are numbered, Charles Coates Junior vows to record the remarkable story of his life: when he was a child, he was sent on a colonist mission to the recently discovered planet Glennanike, along with several other impoverished youth, in order to find alternate habitation for humanity. As time passed, however, their new lives crumbled beneath them as they faced adversity, uncovered shocking secrets, and fell victim to their own humanity. While recounting these events and interacting with the memories he had spent his entire life suppressing, Charles finds it harder than he could have ever imagined to face his own past. The Glennanike Colonistsis at once a sci-fi adventure, a coming-of-age story, and a meditation on the nature of human civilization.

Cecelia McKinneyGrade 9, Ridley High School

​Residency play: A Childish Plea

Fourteen year old Violet Johnson was killed in a school shooting, but her story doesn’t end there. Violet has returned as a ghost to narrate the story of her past and observe the efforts of the present. In response to Violet’s untimely death, her sister Kara has recruited Violet’s friend Tina, and her friend Natalie to reign down on their local senator and advocate for the ban of bumpstocks nationwide. Follow Violet and Kara on their heart-wrenching journey to find justice, peace, and acceptance.

Daniel DwyerGrade 11, Lower Merion High School

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Dinah Day-BoothGrade 10, Harriton High School

​Residency play: Serendipty?

They didn't mean to push him off the roof, but they did. Then, they didn't mean to create fake alibis, tamper with evidence, and steal things, but they did. When one harmless night hanging out on the school's roof turns a little harmful for one person, four teenagers need to cover up a murder, even if they have a test next Thursday and they don't really feel like it. Laugh along with Maci, Falcon, Adrienne, and Austin as they finally recount their (hopefully) most interesting high school story.

Dylan HenryGrade 11, Philadelphia High School for Creative and Performing Arts

​Residency play: INTUITION

In this tale of lust and love and the truth into the deeper insight few hold,we follow “Stevie” a self-aware, self-proclaimed witch fall into a infatuation with a boy she feels connected to. We go on the journey with our protagonist of questioning the why and how the two young souls are being pulled together. There is magic in love, in the universe, and in everything. ​

Elena WebberGrade 11, Science Leadership Academy @ Beeber Campus

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Esther KardosGrade 12, Council Rock High School North

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Guillermo Santos

​Residency play: Troublemakers, or something

Sex, drugs and rock roll! That's what being young is all about. Unprotected, halucinajetics, and judging people for liking the wrong music, can you name a better life!? Not in this town. Frozen and desolate, and with a good music scene it's the only option you've got. Here, at the brink of adulthood we get a window into a life, one that surrounds us but we usually allow rest on the sidelines. One that survives on the walls on the outsides of parties, the parking lot behind convenience stores and in the heart of anyone who's ever felt antagonized or beligered. Which is to say teenagers. These ones specifically are keeping that lifestyle alive! And after one of them has a run in with the law (not in a cool way) The group unravels and in their own time, each person starts to question who or what they are or do. Light is seeping into the catacombs but it's hurting their eyes. It forces them, and the audience to ask the question we all do, but never want to admit we have, "Is what we care about most, really just a phase?"

Kaya TrefzGrade 11, Philadelphia High School for Creative and Performing Arts

​Residency play: Happy Days Are Here Again

A dysfunctional family, a recent death, a Passover dinner? What could go wrong? Come join the Weiss family as they face the effects of loss and begin to heal together.

Kim LeGrade 11,Bayard Rustin High School

​Residency play: N/A​As an author returns home, he discovers that not everything and everyone is as he left it, finding his family coping with the loss of his mother. This intimate play follows the stories of a small town as two former friends explore their past, leading them into their future. It depicts the complexity of relationships and family, emphasizing that the wounds healed by time do not disappear, but rather leave long lasting scars.

Kira WienerGrade 10,Springfield Township High School

​Residency play: Sisters/Shattered​Marisol is breaking down under the stress of school and the pressure to succeed. Pip is reeling from her best friend’s suicide. These two sisters are unwilling to confide in one another, but when magical-realism-esque places give them the opportunity to open up, they might learn to make something new from their broken pieces.

Lily RiveraGrade 12, Science Leadership Academy

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Maya JenningsGrade 9, Springfield Township High School

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Niki SchriftGrade 9, Harriton High School

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Olivia BartrandGrade 12, Lower Merion High School

​Residency play: Undertows! (working title)​Somewhere flat in the United States exists a small town of no importance. However, when the town's pipes break, a 14-year-old resident campaigns to save her town, in the process peeling away its normal exterior to reveal the magic beneath. Armed with a host of eccentric townsfolk, Undertows!reminds its audience members to cherish that which is fleeting and magical.

Ruya ErkutGrade 10, George Washington Carver High School of Engineering and Science